{"product_id":"books-for-living-9781444790801","title":"Books for Living","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003eFrom the author of the international bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe End of Your Life Book Club\u003c\/i\u003e, an inspiring and magical exploration of the enduring power of books - a must for all passionate book lovers, exploring books as diverse as \u003ci\u003eThe Girl on the Train\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Little Prince\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDavid Copperfield\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e''I''ve always believed that everything you need to know can be found in a book.'' Will Schwalbe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy is it that we read? Is it to pass time? To learn something new? To escape into another reality? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Will Schwalbe, reading is a way to entertain himself but also to make sense of the world, to become a better person, and to find the answers to the big (and small) questions about how to live his life. In this delightful celebration of reading, Schwalbe invites us along on his quest for books that speak to the specific challenges of living in our modern world, with all its noise and distractions. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRich with sto\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ea life-enhancing celebration of the power of books and reading\u003c\/b\u003e, very much in the vein of \u003ci\u003eTuesdays with Morrie\u003c\/i\u003e * Independent *\u003cbr\u003e\"Good books often answer questions you dind't even known you wanted to ask\" is \u003cb\u003ea sentiment with which all avid readers will agree\u003c\/b\u003e * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eI very much enjoyed it . . . \u003cb\u003einspiring and charming\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Books, to Schwalbe, are our last great hope to keep us from spiralling into the abyss. It's an old-fashioned thesis-that this ancient medium can save civilization-but I happen to agree. Books build compassion, they inspire reform. \u003cb\u003eThey remain, Schwalbe writes, 'one of the strongest bulwarks we have against tyranny.' And man, do we need bulwarks right now. Lots of bulwarks . . . Read Schwalbe's book\u003c\/b\u003e. * A.J. Jacobs, The New York Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSchwalbe's book challenges the notion of reading-on-the-run\u003c\/b\u003e. It does not offer bullet-pointed highlights so that you can dip in, find the solution and emerge thinking 'There, I've done Copperfield'. Schwalbe expects the readers to read. His own observations are certainly not the fruit of skim-reading... \u003cb\u003eOne of the key elements of \u003ci\u003eBooks for Living\u003c\/i\u003e [is] clear: the boundary between our reading and our lives is often so porous\u003c\/b\u003e. * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eInstead of trying to dust off some forgotten tome and convince us of its value, [Schwalbe] focuses on its pressing relevance at some critical juncture in his life. He isn't arguing - and certainly not shilling - on behalf of a book or author; he's passing on his own experience and leaving us to identify with it or not. Of course we do identify with it, typically, in large part because Schwalbe presents himself so convincingly as an Everyman. He doesn't pretend, or even aspire, to the scholarly expertise of Denby and Dirda, or to Gottlieb's breezy insider status. He conveys this humility with his easygoing, egalitarian tone and his high-low eclecticism, which ranges from Homer's \u003ci\u003eThe Odyssey\u003c\/i\u003e and Melville's \u003ci\u003eBartleby the Scrivener\u003c\/i\u003e to E.B. White's \u003ci\u003eStuart Little \u003c\/i\u003eand Paula Hawkins' \u003ci\u003eThe Girl on the Train\u003c\/i\u003e....\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooks for Living \u003c\/i\u003eis [a] gift, and one that keeps giving.\u003c\/b\u003e * USA Today *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMoving\u003c\/b\u003e... Schwalbe truly shines... \u003cb\u003eIt should convince even reluctant readers to pick up a book\u003c\/b\u003e. * Boston Globe *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEach chapter about a beloved book\u003c\/b\u003e-\u003ci\u003eStuart Little, David Copperfield, Song of Solomon, Bird by Bird-\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eis a finely crafted, generously candid, and affecting personal essay\u003c\/b\u003e, none more moving than the homage to his boarding-school librarian, who subtly steered him to James Baldwin's \u003ci\u003eGiovanni's Room, \u003c\/i\u003ehaving 'realized that I was gay at just about the same time I did.' In this \u003cb\u003ewarmly engaging\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eenlightening\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003estirring \u003c\/b\u003ememoir-in-books and literary celebration, Schwalbe reminds us that reading 'isn't just a strike against narrowness, mind control, and domination; it's one of the world's greatest joys * Booklist *starred review* *\u003cbr\u003eSchwalbe's \u003cb\u003etremendous \u003c\/b\u003eexperience with reading and his stellar taste make for \u003cb\u003ea fine guide to the varied and idiosyncratic list of books for which he advocates\u003c\/b\u003e. By the end of the book, all serious readers will have added some titles to their to-read lists. * Publishers Weekly *starred review* *\u003cbr\u003eSchwalbe's 'manifesto for readers' is not about his favorite books but those that helped him when he had a need. Written in a chatty, conversational style, the book is thematically organized by a wide variety of needs: slowing down, searching, trusting, napping, praying, etc.... \u003cb\u003eIn an age when the number of readers is declining, a delightful book like this might just snare a few new recruits.\u003c\/b\u003e * Kirkus Reviews *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003esweet \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003eutterly restorative\u003c\/b\u003e series of vignettes about how books - the right books, at the right times - can not only deepen a life but save it. * The Christian Science Monitor *\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBooks for Living\u003c\/i\u003e the \u003cb\u003ebrilliant \u003c\/b\u003eWill Schwalbe takes us on a personal journey through a life of reading. But like any great journey, it is far more than an accumulation of miles, or words. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooks for Living\u003c\/i\u003e is a map, a chart, to the places deep inside ourselves where books can take us.\u003c\/b\u003e It's about how stories, how characters, inspire us, guide us, reveal us.  \u003ci\u003eBooks For Living\u003c\/i\u003e is now \u003cb\u003eone of my favourite reads of all time\u003c\/b\u003e, and I know \u003cb\u003eI will revisit it over and over\u003c\/b\u003e. But be warned. It's also quite an expensive book to read since I kept calling my local bookseller and ordering the volumes Will mentions in each chapter. This is a\u003cb\u003e beautiful, powerful, warm, funny, awe-inspiring odyssey\u003c\/b\u003e.  \u003cb\u003eAn absolutely astonishing gift to all of us who have spent our lives loving books\u003c\/b\u003e. * Louise Penny, author of the C. I. Gamache crime series *\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e***PRAISE FOR WILL SCHWALBE'S THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e***\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eI was so moved by this marvellous book. Schwalbe has done something \u003cb\u003eextraordinary\u003c\/b\u003e: made a personal journey public in the most engaging, funny and revealing way possible. It is \u003cb\u003ea true meditation on what books can do\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e * Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes *\u003cbr\u003eWill Schwalbe gives us two love stories in one: That of his relationship with his dynamo of a mother as her horizons shrink, and that of their mutual devotion to the printed word, infinitely and insistently engaging. \u003cb\u003eTender and touching and beautifully done.\u003c\/b\u003e * Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Cleopatra *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA perfect book-club book\u003c\/b\u003e about books and the community they create that also portrays the love between mother and son.\u003c\/p\u003e * Library Journal *\u003cbr\u003eWill Schwalbe's \u003cb\u003ebrave and soulful elegy to his remarkable mother\u003c\/b\u003e, his recollection of their sparklingly literate conversations, is a\u003cb\u003e timely reminder that one exceptional person, or one exceptional book, can be a torch in the darkness. \u003c\/b\u003eYou'll turn the last page wishing you'd met Mary Anne Schwalbe, vowing to be worthy of her incandescent example - and promising yourself to read more. * J. R. Moehringer, author of The Tender Bar *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA wonderful book about wonderful books and mothers and sons and the enduring braid between them\u003c\/b\u003e. Like the printed volumes it celebrates, \u003cb\u003ethis story will stay with you long after the last page.\u003c\/b\u003e * Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie and The Time Keeper *\u003cbr\u003eAt last a book that celebrates the role books play within our own story. \u003cb\u003eWill Schwalbe has created a tender, moving and honest portrayal of the precious relationship between a mother and son\u003c\/b\u003e - an ode to that beautiful thing called love. * Cecilia Ahern, author of PS, I Love You *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ean astonishing, pertinent, and wonderfully welcome work.\u003c\/b\u003e * Publishers Weekly starred review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn extraordinarily wise, witty, and quietly wrenching book\u003c\/b\u003e about parental love, filial love, profound grief, and literature's great consolations. \u003cb\u003eHow wonderful to encounter a writer who combines erudition with great emotional honesty\u003c\/b\u003e, and who isn't afraid of addressing life's most profound and baffling questions. * Douglas Kennedy, author of Leaving the World and The Pursuit of Happiness *\u003cbr\u003eThis \u003cb\u003etouching and insightful memoir \u003c\/b\u003eabout the slow process of dying will appeal to readers of \u003ci\u003eTuesdays With Morrie\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Last Lecture\u003c\/i\u003e, but also to people who love delving into books and book discussions. Like Mary Anne, who reads the ending first, you know how this book is going to end, but while it is a story about death, it is mostly a celebration of life and of the way books can enrich it. * Booklist (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003ea \u003cb\u003emoving \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003einspiring\u003c\/b\u003e story * Choice Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eWhat self-respecting reader isn't a sucker for a great book about other great books? \u003ci\u003eThe End of Your Life Book Club\u003c\/i\u003e is that much and more. * BookPage *\u003cbr\u003ea \u003cb\u003egraceful, affecting testament\u003c\/b\u003e to a mother and a life well lived. * Entertainment Weekly *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003ea tribute to a remarkable woman and an exemplary reader.\u003c\/p\u003e * Salon *\u003cbr\u003eLiterature \u003cb\u003ebridges generations\u003c\/b\u003e in Will Schwalbe's \u003cb\u003ethoughtful tribute\u003c\/b\u003e to his late mother * Vogue.com *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA truly poignant read\u003c\/b\u003e . . . a \u003cb\u003emoving tribute\u003c\/b\u003e to a wonderful-sounding mum and the power of fiction. * Good Housekeeping *\u003cbr\u003eIt helps of course if you are a book lover and can relate to the passion for reading, but even prolific readers will find that the book teaches them not only about life and death but about \u003cb\u003ethe power of a really good book to move you\u003c\/b\u003e and peel off the onion skin layers of \"what you already know\" and reveal truths. * Curious Book Fans *","brand":"John Murray Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48739255189847,"sku":"9781444790801","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781444790801.jpg?v=1720051658","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/books-for-living-9781444790801","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}